Ben Stein: Save your pennies West Texas

Published 6:29 pm, Thursday, March 20, 2014

Ben Stein makes his opening comments at the 36th JBS Distinguished Lecture focusing on the topic "Blurred Lines: The National Economy: Whose Money Is It?" Thursday evening at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center. less

Ben Stein makes his opening comments at the 36th JBS Distinguished Lecture focusing on the topic "Blurred Lines: The National Economy: Whose Money Is It?" Thursday evening at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts ... more

Photo: Mark Sterkel|Odessa American

Ben Stein: Save your pennies West Texas

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While sporting his classic sneakers and dress suit, the famous actor and economist Ben Stein on Thursday warned Permian Basin dwellers of the uncertainties that often accompany a booming economy centered around oil production.

“People always forget that commodities move in cycles,” Stein said during a conversation with the media. “We’re in the midst of a commodity super-cycle but I can remember when they opened the Rolls-Royce [dealership] here in Midland and it closed pretty quickly.”

Stein -- who’s most famous for his role as the notoriously dull teacher in the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” -- emphasized that economic growth is not infinite and West Texans ought to be prepared for anything, especially considering its past boom-bust cycles.

“If I were to say one thing, I would say, ‘save your pennies,’” he said. “Let’s hope the commodities boom lasts forever for the sake of West Texas, but it’s a rare commodity boom that lasts forever.”

West Texas economist Ray Perryman and Richard Bowen, a senior lecturer of accounting and finance at the University of Texas at Dallas, joined Stein in the private conversation with the media before taking the stage at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center to discuss the overall U.S. economy before the public.

During the lecture called Blurred Lines: The National Economy: Whose Money Is It?, the three men addressed a wide range of topics including: The Federal Reserve, government spending, national debt, minimum wage and the most recent economic recession, among other issues.

While most of the issues covered during the event were broad-based national topics, Perryman said before the lecture that the Permian Basin’s local economy cannot be ignored by the rest of the country. For the past two years, Midland has been the fastest growing city in America, based off Gross Domestic Product, he added.

“What’s going on here and elsewhere is going to have a huge impact nationally in terms of almost redefining what the energy sector looks like,” Perryman said.

But the business market across the Permian Basin is far from perfect, according to each businessman.

“You have a problem of excess demand in some parts of the economy, especially, what I’d say, the excess demand for housing, which has very much affected the price of housing and the affordability of housing,” Stein said.

Stein added that there is a major unmet need of a quality labor force throughout West Texas. High employee turnover and absenteeism are two results from the unmet demand for workers, he said.

The national economy, in general, faces different issues than the Permian Basin but is also far from perfect, according to the consensus from each man’s talking points throughout the lecture.

Federal government spending and the national debt were among the hottest issues discussed during the public lecture.

Stein said he believes that the country’s multi-trillion-dollar debt will never go down by cutting government spending alone. Americans need to start paying more personal taxes, he said.

“I don’t like to pay taxes either but it has to happen,” Stein said. “It’s really, really unfortunate.”